Container construction



g- 1954 R. w. TURNAGE ETAL 3,144,975

CONTAINER CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 27, 1963 INVENTORS: EICHAEB W. TURNAGE- and C|YA12LE$ K. bum/w J12.

United States Patent 3,144,975 CUNTAINER CONSTRUCTION Richard W. Turnage and Charles K. Dunlap, In, Hartsville, S.C., assignors to Sonoco Products Company, Hartsvilie, 8.6., a corporation of South Carolina Filed Feb. 2'7, 1963, Ser. No. 261,330 6 Claims. (Cl. 229-45) This invention relates to containers and more particularly to a wound, multi-ply container for the packaging of liquids such as oil and the like.

In the packaging of liquid and semi-liquid material such as oil in particular, widespread use is made of a Wound, multi-ply container having a body formed substantially of fibre and suitably lined with liquid impervious material so as to prevent leaking or wicking of the packaged material. Such containers are commonly referred to as composite containers and are generally sealed at each end with seamed-on metal ends. Such composite containers are used widely for the packaging of engine oil for sale to the typical motorist and are commonly provided in a one-quart size.

As a result of the many advantages of such composite containers among which are low cost and light weight, they have in many cases replaced containers or cans made entirely of metal. The end closure or metal end which is used generally for closing each end of the body of a composite container has its marginal edge folded together with a flange on the end of the container body in the form of what is generally referred to as a folded seam. In the packaging of oil in a composite container, a container body closed at one end with a metal end is filled with oil after which the other end of the body is closed with a metal end similarly sealed on using a folded seam.

During handling and in particular during shipment, such filled composite containers are subjected to con siderable rough treatment as is typical of any such package or container. As composite containers filled with oil are frequently shipped in cardboard cartons, it is not uncommon for such cartons to be dropped one or more times so that the containers are subjected to considerable impact and other destructive forces on their ends and end edges.

When a composite container filled with oil is dropped on its end either in a carton or singly, the end edge formed by the seamed-on metal end is struck with considerable force which tends to bring about a separation of the metal and fibre parts along the folded seam. This separation would, of course, have the undesirable effect of permitting the packaged liquid material to leak from the container. While such containers are generally sufficiently rugged to withstand a few such blows on their end edges, the large number of drops to which such containers are subjected during handling and shipping frequently exceed the number of permitted drops producing an undesirable leaking and/or wicking of the packaged liquid.

Accordingly, a primary object of this invention is to provide a new and novel fibre container for the packaging of liquid material such as oil and the like.

Another object of this invention is to provide a new and novel fibre container having seamed-on metal ends for the packaging of liquid material such as oil and the like which will withstand without leaking or wicking a far greater number of blows on the ends or end edges such as result from dropping the container than is possible with present day similar containers.

A further object of this invention is to provide body construction for a new and novel composite container having a fibre body closed at each end with seamed-on metal ends which materially reduces the destructive effects on the end seams from blows applied thereto.

This invention further contemplates the provision of a composite container for liquids such as oil having a multi-ply body wound in a conventional manner and closed at each end with seamed-0n metal ends which body is processed during the metal end seaming operation simply and easily using inexpensive apparatus so as to give the filled container a high resistance to rupture resulting from blows applied to the container ends or end edges by dropping or the like of the container.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing.

The objects stated above and other related objects of this invention are accomplished by the provision of a tubular multi-ply container body formed by winding fibre strips together in overlapping relationship with adhesive therebetween. Each end of the body is closed with an end closure preferably of metal having its marginal edge folded together with the end edge of the body in a leakproof seam to form a container for the packaging of a liquid such as oil. A circumferentially extending score is formed on the outer surface of the body adjacent one end which permits the body to flex under the pressure of a blow such as results from the impact produced when the container is dropped on its end or end edge thereby maintaining the metal ends and body in a leakproof relationship to avoid leakage of the packaged liquid.

The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its organization and operation may be best understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is an isometric view of a container constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIGURE 2 is an elevation view of one step in the construction of the container of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged view of that portion of FIGURE 2 within the dotted lines; and

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along line 4-4 of FIGURE 1 in the direction of the arrows.

Referring now to the drawing, there is shown in FIG- URE 1 a container C which is constructed in accordance with the invention. The container C is of the type which is generally referred to as a composite container for the packaging of semi-liquid and liquid material such as oil and includes a body 11 closed at each end by end closures i2, 13 composed of metal or the like. The composite container C of the invention is similar to the container described and claimed in the co-pending patent application of Charles K. Dunlap, Jr. et al. entitled Method and Apparatus for Making Composite Oil Containers, filed March 19, 1962, and having Serial No. 180,606.

The container body 11 is composed substantially of fibre and preferably is formed by spirally winding a plurality of paper strips in the conventional manner in overlapping relationship with adhesive therebetween to form a multi-ply fibrous side wall 14 as shown best in FIG- URES 3 and 4. As described in the above-mentioned copending patent application, the paper side wall 14 is provided with an inner ply or liner 16 of oil impervious material and an outer ply 17 of leakproof weatherresistant material preferably imprinted with suitable identifying indicia.

Both the inner ply 16 and outer ply 17 may be foil laminated to paper and are preferably spirally wound together with the paper strips forming the fibrous side Wall 14 into a continuous tubular form which is severed into suitable lengths for forming a plurality of container bodies 11. The edges of adjacent convolutions of the outer ply 17 are overlapped and provide an external spiral seam 18. The edges of adjacent convolutions of the inner ply 16 are preferably butted to form a spiral seam 19 which is sealed with a sealing strip 20 of oil impervious material suitably bonded to ply 16 as described and claimed in the above-referred-to co-pending patent application.

To form the container C, one end of the body 11 is closed with the metal end 12 and after filling with oil the container body is completely closed with the other metal end 13. Both metal ends 12 and 13 are secured in sealing relationship within the ends of the container body 11 by a double seaming operation in which the marginal edges of the metal ends are folded together with the end edges of the container body 11 to form folded end edge seams 21, 22 as shown best in FIGURES 3, 4. This metal end double seaming operation is described in another copending application entitled Method and Apparatus for Flanging Container Bodies filed by Clyde R. Carter on January 3, 1963, and having Serial No. 249,285.

As described in this latter co-pending patent application and as shown in FIGURE 2, a container body 11 is positioned on a vertically movable base plate 23 and the metal end 12 is positioned within the upper end of the container body 11 as shown in FIGURES 2, 3. A chuck 24 is moved into nested relationship with the metal end 12 and with the successive use of a pair of seaming tools the latter of which is identified in FIGURE 2 by the numeral 26, the marginal edge of the end flange 12 is folded together with the end edge of the container body 11 to form the folded seam 21. As is well known, this double seaming operation is a two step operation with the seaming tool 26 performing the second stage or step in the seaming operation.

As specifically illustrative of the invention, a scoring tool 27 as shown in FIGURES 2, 3 is positioned in the seaming apparatus opposite the seaming tool 26 as shown in FIGURE 2. The seaming tool 27 includes a disc 23 having an arcuate peripheral edge 29 carried by a hub 30.

To form the container construction of the invention, the scoring tool 27 is actuated to move the peripheral edge 29 of the scoring tool disc 28 into engagement with the outer surface of the container body 11 during the above described second step of the seaming operation. The seaming tool 27 therefore engages the container body 11 at the time the seaming tool 26 is in the position shown in FIGURE 2 for carrying out the last step of the double seaming operation during rotation of the container body 11. The rotation of the body 11 and engagement of the scoring tool edge 29 with the outer surface of the body 11 compresses the fibres of the body side wall 14 radially inward to reduce the outer diameter of the container body 11 closely adjacent the metal end seam 21 to form a circumferentially extending groove 31 in the outer surface of the container body 11.

In the preferred embodiment, the groove 31 is positioned on the body wall 11 approximately A2 to 1" from the metal end seam 22 and a spacing of approximately A1" produces the desired results of the invention. The depth of the groove 31 is limited so as to avoid buckling or interrupting the smooth inner Wall of the container body 11 formed by the foil inner ply 16 to preserve the leakproof characteristics of the container. A depth of approximately 0.005 inch and a width of approximately A inch gives the desired results of the invention.

It will be noted that in the illustrated embodiment, the groove 31 is formed adjacent the bottom end defined by the metal end 12 and, if desired, may also be formed in a similar location adjacent the other end of the container. As is well known, the other end of the container body 11 after filling with oil or the like is closed in the manner described above by a metal end 13. It has been found that as containers filled with oil are stacked and shipped upright in their cartons, the far more likely end to be subjected to the damaging effect of dropping a container or the carton containing containers is the bottom end as defined by the metal end 12. Consequently, the groove 31 is located adjacent this end but, as explained above, may be similarly located on the other end of the container as well within the scope of the invention. Furthermore, while only a single groove 31 is shown, it may be desirable to provide two or more similarly situated grooves 31 adjacent one or both ends of the container of the invention.

With the novel construction of the invention, there has been provided a body construction for a composite container for liquids such as oil and the like which is obtained by simply and easily grooving or scoring the outer surface of the container body wall during a metal end seaming operation without detracting from the leakproof characteristics of the container. This scoring operation imparts abellows or accordian feature to the container body wall which provides a yielding or spring-like action in the area of the groove to reduce or substantially eliminate damage to the container from blows on the container end such as commonly occur from dropping the container or carton in which the containers are packaged. Furthermore, the body construction of the invention does not detract from the strength of the container and it is of only a slight depth and width so as to be virtually invisible to the naked eye. As it is quite important that the advertising and idenification indicia on such containers remain unmarred, the virtually invisible nature of the body groove has no objectionable eifects on the outer surface of the container. Furthermore, it is relatively easy to adapt well-known metal end seaming apparatus to the processing of containers in accordance with this invention and the apparatus required is quite inexpensive and simple in construction.

While there has been described What at present is considered to be the preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention and, therefore, it is the aim of the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

l. A container for packaging a liquid such as oil and the like comprising, in combination, a tubular multi-ply body composed substantially of wound fibre strips adhesively secured together, an end closure secured in sealing relationship with an end of said body to form a container and at least one circumferentially extending score in the outer surface of said body adjacent said end to permit said body to flex with the application of pressure on said end thereby preventing separation of said end closure and body to avoid leakage of the liquid packaged in said container.

2. A container for a liquid such as oil and the like comprising, in combination, a tubular, multi-ply body composed substantially of wound fibre strips adhesively secured together, an end closure secured in sealing relationship with an end of said body to form a container, at least one circumferentially extending radially inwardly compressed narrow portion in the wall of said body adjacent said end for reducing the outer diameter only of said body, said compressed portion permitting said body to flex with the application of pressure on said end thereby preventing separation of said end closure and body to avoid leakage of the liquid from said container.

3. A container for a liquid such as oil and the like comprising, in combination, a tubular, multi-ply body composed substantially of wound fibre strips adhesively secured together, a metal end closure having its marginal edge folded with the end edge of said body at an end in sealing relationship therewith to form a container having a circumferentially extending seam at said end and at least one circumferentially extending score in the outer surface of said body in closely spaced relationship with said seam to permit said body to flex with the application of pressure on said end thereby preventing separation of said end closure and body to avoid leakage of the liquid from said container.

4. A container in accordance with claim 3 wherein said score is located approximately Ms from said seam.

5. A container for liquid such as oil and the like comprising, in combination, a tubular, multi-ply body composed substantially of wound fibre strips adhesively secured together, a metal end closure having its marginal edge folded with the end edge of said body at an end in sealing relationship therewith to form a container having a circumferentially extending seam at said end and at least one circumferentially extending score having a Width of approximately inch and a depth of approximately inch in the outer surface of said body located within the range of approximately /8" to 1 inch from said seam to permit said body to flex with the application of pressure on said end thereby preventing separation of said end closure and body to avoid leakage of the liquid from said container.

6. A container for liquid such as oil and the like comprising, in combination, a tubular, multi-ply body composed substantially of wound fibre strips adhesively secured together, said body having an inner liner of liquid impervious material and an outer ply of leakproof, weather-resistant material, a metal end closure having its marginal edge folded with the end edge of said body at an end in sealing relationship therewith to form a container having a circumferentially extending seam at said end and at least one circumferentially extending score having a width of approximately inch and a depth of approximately 0.005 inch in the outer surface of said body located approximately inch from said seam to permit said body to flex with the application of pressure on said end thereby preventing separation of said end closure and body to avoid leakage of the liquid from said container.

No references cited. 

1. A CONTAINER FOR PACKAGING A LIQUID SUCH AS OIL AND THE LIKE COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A TUBULAR MULTI-PLY BODY COMPOSED SUBSTANTIALLY OF WOUND FIBRE STRIPS ADHESIVELY SECURED TOGETHER, AN END CLOSURE SECURED IN SEALING RELATIONSHIP WITH AN END OF SAID BODY TO FORM A CONTAINER AND AT LEAST ONE CIRCUMFERENTIALLY EXTENDING SCORE IN THE 